Interior

William Ernest Henley 1849 (Gloucester) – 1903 (Woking)



The gaunt brown walls
Look infinite in their decent meanness.
There is nothing of home in the noisy kettle,
The fulsome fire.

The atmosphere
Suggests the trail of a ghostly druggist.
Dressings and lint on the long, lean table -
Whom are they for?

The patients yawn,
Or lie as in training for shroud and coffin.
A nurse in the corridor scolds and wrangles.
It's grim and strange.

Far footfalls clank.
The bad burn waits with his head unbandaged.
My neighbour chokes in the clutch of chloral . . .
O, a gruesome world!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

28 sec read
91

Quick analysis:

Scheme XXAX XBAX XXXX XBAX
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 509
Words 93
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4

William Ernest Henley

William Ernest Henley was an English poet, critic and editor, best remembered for his 1875 poem "Invictus". more…

All William Ernest Henley poems | William Ernest Henley Books

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    "Interior" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/40491/interior>.

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    The repetition of similar sounds at the ends of words or within words is known as _______.
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